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Freshwater pearl mussel population reinforcements at the FBA Ark

Some of the biggest threats facing pearl mussels in the wild are pollution, nutrient enrichment, high sediment loads coming from land run-off, and climate change. The future status of the pearl mussel is heavily dependent on the restoration of their habitat, as well as an increasing in their overall population size through captive breeding.

Many existing wild populations are ageing, with the youngest mussels in the river being over 70 years old due to juveniles being most affected by poor habitat conditions. At the Ark we have been breeding juveniles from several English populations to boost wild populations and have now started releasing juveniles back into their native rivers.

We have now successfully trialled releases in to the wild of some of the juveniles we have reared at the FBA Ark. These mussels were tagged with both numbered and electronic tags so that we can monitor the success of these releases over time. Watch this space for more updates as our release programme expands!